Last week ended on a sour note for global stock markets, with Thursday-Friday declines on the order of 3%-4% virtually everywhere. Triggered by an HSBC report of a decline in China’s manufacturing sector, some emerging market currencies were even weaker than share prices, and yield spreads widened as investors focused on an element given short shrift for much of 2013 – risk. Follow the link below for our markets review.

Halfway through the first month of 2014, stocks are already well behind their breakneck pace of one year earlier. The outlook for world economic growth appears to have improved, but sales growth and earnings growth have been stuck in the low single-digit range for the past couple quarters. It will probably take more than that to sustain investor enthusiasm in the year to come. Follow the link below to our review of last week’s stock, bond, FX and commodities market action.

Despite the unexpectedly weak new jobs report for December released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, stock prices held their own last week. Still, in terms of stock market action, 2014 has not had the strong start that 2013 had. Follow the link below for our review of last week’s market trends.